Your scariest moments in a game

[BornAgainPCGamer]

As a kid...playing Resident Evil 1 on my brand new ps1, was a thrilling and scary experience. My first taste of survival horror and i loved it.

Silent Hill was next for me and i actually had a tougher time with it. For me it was truly creepy and i rarely played it alone once it got dark.

Then my dad got me a PC after much pestering for the whole year. I'd played Duke Nukem on my cousin's dad's work PC and i knew i had to have one. Anyway i digress. I got a bunch of games free with the PC, one of them being Thief The Dark Project. I was blown away by how immersive it was. That level early on though where you have to break your friend out of jail got to me big time. You start in a haunted mine and it took me ages to get through it the first time.

I also got a copy of System Shock 2 and holy cow that game was creepy as hell. A brilliantly immersive game but the hairs on my arm were constantly standing on end and i jumped more than a handful of times playing it.

Then came Vampire TM Bloodlines. A game that puts you in the shoes of a badass vampire, then sends you on a mission to "that" hotel. It completely pulled the rug from under me and is easily up there as one of the scariest gaming experiences i have had.

There are many, many more i could write about but these were the ones that had the most impact on me, as i experienced them during my formative years.

 

[spvtnik1]

F.E.A.R. was a wild ride, I played it through in all of a weekend. But the end probably got to me more than the jump scares.

But here I will tell a tale that can not be bought off the shelf. /Holds flash light up to face

So as I mentioned in the introduction thread, for a short time I was a pre-member of Shack Tactical, a mil-sim organization founded by the one and only Dslyecxi. PC Gamer has written extensively about the group, they even embedded one of their writers in there to get the complete experience. They are probably some of the most serious gamers you can find on the internet, but even they have their goofy side. This becomes most notable when they play a round of S.H.A.C.K.E.R., which you can find videos of from their members on YouTube. Basically, the players start somewhere crash landed in the world, and must sneak & fight their way through hordes of zombies to survive and find a vehicle (and fuel) that can get them off the island.

Often, small groups will break off in the beginning at an attempt to maximize their chance of finding a suitable vehicle (the whole group isn't going to fit in to that Mi28). On a particularly dark (and maybe stormy) night, I'm with a sizeable group that starts moving out towards our first point of interest. Some are still at the crash site, including the venerable Dslyecxi. He also starts moving out with a small group behind us. Yet behind them are more, and they move along in the same direction as all of us. Well... we haven't even gotten several hundred meters away from the crash site, and the pop of a firearm rings out behind us. We all stop and turn around.

Someone - I don't think we ever found out who - managed to negligently discharge their firearm right in to Dslyecxi, killing him instantly. But that would not be the last we saw of him.

After all, this guy basically made ArmA what it is today. Did we really think he was gonna sit out this round of S.H.A.C.K.E.R.? But respawn, he did not.

About 30 minutes later strange things started happening. Images of Dslyexci's rotted, zombified body were flashing in front of us. If that wasn't bad enough, time and space seemed to be ripping apart, and teammates who were behind you would suddenly just vanish - only to reappear shortly thereafter. Or you may turn around and find the ghost standing where your teammate was. Voices filled your head, and anomalies would appear. It was utter chaos. You could hear the howls of the other crash survivors out in the darkness as they became the haunted victims of Dslyexci's ghost. At one point I literally sat down in the middle of a road in a fetal position and wailed for mercy.

It went on like this for HOURS, until finally the last remaining three or four of us had acquired all we needed and located a vehicle we could escape in. But the ghost was relentless, and soon summoned hundreds of zombies that descended upon us. We used our last bullets fending them off as best as we could while fueling the helicopter, but only two of us made it on board. We watched in horror from the cockpit as the horde ripped them apart. Moments later, we had spun up the rotors and were flying away, entranced by what had just transpired.

I only played a handful of rounds of S.H.A.C.K.E.R. while I was in ShackTac, but this was the only one that I "survived." But the price I paid for leaving the island with my life that night weighs heavily etched in my mind.

 

[Deviat3]

I remember playing an Alien game, long, long ago. It was an fps and it started in a crashed spaceship, it was totally dark with some sparks and ****. It was late at night and I was wearing my headphones. I started walking and my proximitysensor started beeping and I saw many blips coming at me. I still didn't see **** and the sensor got more and more bananas.

The tension just got too much. I alt-f4'ed out and never played again

 

[Frindis]

@BornAgainPCGamer That Hotel quest is still one of my absolute favorite scary quests in a game. I also had some scary/horrifying moments with the Gimble, Twins and the Pisha quest in said game.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

@BornAgainPCGamer That Hotel quest is still one of my absolute favorite scary quests in a game. I also had some scary/horrifying moments with the Gimble, Twins and the Pisha quest in said game.

Don't forget Dr. Grout's place (the weird asylum type place) or the mansion where they filmed the murder videos. 👻

 

[I Will Haunt You]

But here I will tell a tale that can not be bought off the shelf. /Holds flash light up to face

I had to Google stuff to see if that was real or you were just making it up for effect. That's pretty kick ass.

But, yu forgot to start it with "Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society I call this story (insert name here", so only 99/100 👻

 

[SeriousNERD]

Then came Vampire TM Bloodlines. A game that puts you in the shoes of a badass vampire, then sends you on a mission to "that" hotel. It completely pulled the rug from under me and is easily up there as one of the scariest gaming experiences i have had.

When I played VTMB the mansion was scary and creepy, but what really messed me up was the snuff film set when those two legged freaks burst out, my palms were sweating the whole time I was there.

 

[MacLeod]

The ENTIRE game of Silent Hill on the PS1. There has never been anything like it and it was scary as hell! I remember the first time you're in a classroom during the "daytime" and those little kid ghosts were creeping around. Made the hairs on my neck stand straight up.

 

[MeFirst]

I was like 13 or maybe 14 when I played the first Diablo.

*opens door*
AHHH! FRESH MEAT!

That scared me so hard, I turned the pc of in panic.

 

[BornAgainPCGamer]

F.E.A.R. was a wild ride, I played it through in all of a weekend. But the end probably got to me more than the jump scares.

But here I will tell a tale that can not be bought off the shelf. /Holds flash light up to face

So as I mentioned in the introduction thread, for a short time I was a pre-member of Shack Tactical, a mil-sim organization founded by the one and only Dslyecxi. PC Gamer has written extensively about the group, they even embedded one of their writers in there to get the complete experience. They are probably some of the most serious gamers you can find on the internet, but even they have their goofy side. This becomes most notable when they play a round of S.H.A.C.K.E.R., which you can find videos of from their members on YouTube. Basically, the players start somewhere crash landed in the world, and must sneak & fight their way through hordes of zombies to survive and find a vehicle (and fuel) that can get them off the island.

Often, small groups will break off in the beginning at an attempt to maximize their chance of finding a suitable vehicle (the whole group isn't going to fit in to that Mi28). On a particularly dark (and maybe stormy) night, I'm with a sizeable group that starts moving out towards our first point of interest. Some are still at the crash site, including the venerable Dslyecxi. He also starts moving out with a small group behind us. Yet behind them are more, and they move along in the same direction as all of us. Well... we haven't even gotten several hundred meters away from the crash site, and the pop of a firearm rings out behind us. We all stop and turn around.

Someone - I don't think we ever found out who - managed to negligently discharge their firearm right in to Dslyecxi, killing him instantly. But that would not be the last we saw of him.

After all, this guy basically made ArmA what it is today. Did we really think he was gonna sit out this round of S.H.A.C.K.E.R.? But respawn, he did not.

About 30 minutes later strange things started happening. Images of Dslyexci's rotted, zombified body were flashing in front of us. If that wasn't bad enough, time and space seemed to be ripping apart, and teammates who were behind you would suddenly just vanish - only to reappear shortly thereafter. Or you may turn around and find the ghost standing where your teammate was. Voices filled your head, and anomalies would appear. It was utter chaos. You could hear the howls of the other crash survivors out in the darkness as they became the haunted victims of Dslyexci's ghost. At one point I literally sat down in the middle of a road in a fetal position and wailed for mercy.

It went on like this for HOURS, until finally the last remaining three or four of us had acquired all we needed and located a vehicle we could escape in. But the ghost was relentless, and soon summoned hundreds of zombies that descended upon us. We used our last bullets fending them off as best as we could while fueling the helicopter, but only two of us made it on board. We watched in horror from the cockpit as the horde ripped them apart. Moments later, we had spun up the rotors and were flying away, entranced by what had just transpired.

I only played a handful of rounds of S.H.A.C.K.E.R. while I was in ShackTac, but this was the only one that I "survived." But the price I paid for leaving the island with my life that night weighs heavily etched in my mind.

Awesome story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BornAgainPCGamer]

When I played VTMB the mansion was scary and creepy, but what really messed me up was the snuff film set when those two legged freaks burst out, my palms were sweating the whole time I was there.

I really have to replay that masterpiece. Its sitting there on my desktop ready to go. I cant really recall the snuff film set but it does sound familiar. I remember the gimble prosthetics serial killer but again only vaguely.

 

[SeriousNERD]

I really have to replay that masterpiece. Its sitting there on my desktop ready to go. I cant really recall the snuff film set but it does sound familiar. I remember the gimble prosthetics serial killer but again only vaguely.

If I remember correctly it is in the third hub area. It really is worth replaying if you have the time.

 

[Pifanjr]

My friend and I started the FEAR demo. We were kids and had absolutely no idea what kind of game we were playing. The first time we saw a little girl run through our flash light beam was pretty bad. Not being able to find her afterwards was somehow worse. We shut off the game a few minutes later.

My worst/best experience is probably playing Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs with some friends, at night, in a dark room, while high. We took turns playing, most of us only playing for a little bit at a time before passing on the controller, or setting it down for a few minutes to calm down. Being high made it so much more intense.

One particularly memorable part was when it was my turn to play. There was a monster patrolling around, which I avoided by ducking into an alley. The alley had a chain link fence at the end you couldn't get past, so it was a dead end, with a bunch of boxes stacked on the other side. However, if you crouched down, you could see one of the monsters doing something that very much look like it was raping another person.

This changed everything. Running from monsters because they might kill you is one thing. I'd been doing that in games for a large part of my life. This was different. I needed to get away from there. So I turn back, walk to the entry of the alley and as I round the corner, I'm face to face with the monster that had been patrolling around. Nothing has ever given me a jump scare like that.

 

[Slasken]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines at the hotel is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a scary moment in games.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

My worst/best experience is probably playing Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs with some friends, at night, in a dark room, while high.

You'd have to be high to get anything even remotely interesting, let alone scary, from A Machine for Pigs.

The alley had a chain link fence at the end you couldn't get past, so it was a dead end, with a bunch of boxes stacked on the other side. However, if you crouched down, you could see one of the monsters doing something that very much look like it was raping another person.

Here is an interview about the creation of that scene https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...-pigs-writer-describes-disturbing-cut-content

 

[Pifanjr]

You'd have to be high to get anything even remotely interesting, let alone scary, from A Machine for Pigs.

Here is an interview about the creation of that scene https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...-pigs-writer-describes-disturbing-cut-content

I had played through Dark Descent before that without really getting scared, so I think you're right that without being high it wouldn't have been nearly as intense.
I had a same level of intensity once while playing Sniper Elite III high. I crawled through an entire mission because I was so focused on not being caught.

That interview is interesting, but they make it sound like they didn't put it in the game. Someone in the comments of that article point out that it is still in there hidden behind some crates, where I saw it too.

 

[ZER0]

I don't think I've seen anyone mention this yet but PT on PS4 scared the crap out of me the first time playing it. I had no idea what it was at the time, it was just a free demo on the playstation store. From the creepy lighting, the looping around into the same area again and again having it get just a little more decrepit and messed up the next time around, to the sound effects and that damn radio telling you to "look behind you".... my girlfriend at the time jumped over me and almost ran out of the room the first time we got caught by the ghost lol. Just that demo alone is a master work in horror and needless to say, it's a shame Konami couldn't (and still can't) get their act together to get the full game going.

I'd say a runner up is SOMA from frictional games with the way it makes you think about your own humanity while trapping you in a claustrophic, apocalyptic and dreary setting. Amnesia is great too but I don't think SOMA gets enough love. I'm very excited for their next game though!

 

[BornAgainPCGamer]

If I remember correctly it is in the third hub area. It really is worth replaying if you have the time.

Thanks👍....I was going to google it and i resisted. I'm going to go back in without refreshing my memory with videos of the game. I played the hell out of it as a teen so it should come back to me once i get going. Such a fantastic game to play when it was originally released. The graphics were so awesome I thought. I really hope Bloodlines 2 can have that "wow factor".

 

[Uponce]

last game i played that scared me was when i played diablo 1 and entered some really dark dungeon... i was young like 8 year old or 12. so its not only job by Blizzard but also my imagination back then. Now I cant really be scared by any game

 

[I Will Haunt You]

That sense of danger is really missed in later era Bethesda games. Skyrim had it occasionally with trolls charging you out of nowhere but that atmosphere disappeared with Fallout 4.

There were a few moments with deathclaws that were pretty good, and a couple with super mutants, but yeah.

 

[PCG Joanna]

Outlast. Still haven't gone back to it. It was like right after getting in the building and the thing drops from the ceiling. I immediately quit and uninstalled the game. One day.

That same part scared me so bad, too! I slowly managed to carry on from there, but it took me a while to finish the game—and I love horror games.

The part in Layers of Fear (when it first released, as this scene plays out differently now) where you're forced to walk down a dimly lit hallway toward a flickering black shadow scared me pretty bad too. It's what happens at the end that scared me so bad. I screamed so loud my neighbor knocked on my door because he thought there was something wrong.

 

[Zloth]

Subnautica could definitely be nerve wracking.

There are worse things than sharks
swimming in the deep.

---Gandalf the Damp

 

[firefly]

Out farming with my mantis in Ark, then I start getting attacked with a player on a petra trying to pick me....always a scary time.

 

[mdzcpa]

Meeting Alma Wade in a cramped space in F.E.A.R.

^THIS for sure.

 

[Zloth]

What, poor little Alma?

Won't somebody help this poor girl out of the fire?? Oh, wait, don't tell me: you're not supposed to help her.